I don't understand Lil Wayne

I really could give a damn about "popular" music. Yes, there are great singles that drop every year, but for the most part, when you get around to the albums, maybe only 10-20% actually bring something new to the table. Most often, popular music nowadays seems to try and capitalize on the latest trend. (Autotune, cough, cough) But I don't blame the industry--people simply buy into what's familiar. Take Usher's new album. "Love In This Club," is a banger (although I'm enjoying the Rockafire Explosion version better, but that's just me), but the rest of his album is filled with tired R&B cliches. If Usher created 10 "Love In This Club," type songs then it would a top album for me.

So yeah, having that said most of y'all know that I'm not going to like the Lil' Wayne album. Again, it's not that I'm a hater or that I don't like "street," hip-hop or any of that. I just don't think the album is that good, and I still can't figure out the fascination with this dude at all.

I understand why he's popular. He's been on every magazine cover this side of Better Homes and Gardens, and it's state law now that every song on the radio must have a Lil' Wayne remix. But there are two types of popular in my book: T-Pain popular and Jay-Z popular. T-Pain is popular because he is on the radio all the time. Jay-Z has amassed millions dollars because he manages to influence people and set trends--the G.O.A.T. philosophy. For me, Wayne is the former, not the latter. I feel like I'm in the minority in that assessment.

Everyone from my brother to accomplished music people are saying that Wayne one of the top 10 rappers of all time. I just don't get it. Dude doesn't come close on my top 10 rappers list. Dudedosent ' even make my top 10 Southern rappers list. But Wayne has a fiercely loyal group of backers that will go to bat for this dude if you say even the slightest thing negative. Yes, Wayne has some straight fire gems out of the hundreds of songs he released, and I respect his work ethic--he's one of the hardest working dudes in the industry today, and he gets all the money he deserves in that respect. But for one solid song, there are 10 duds.

Wayne has a wicked spit, and cadence, but lyrically, he loses me.

And honestly, I'm enjoying Lil' Mama's A Milli track better than Wayne's.

[audio:http://www.thecouchsessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/01-a-milli-freestyle.mp3]

Also, I think Papoose needs more shine than Wayne too. Exhibit A:

But seriously people, am I missing something? Please let me know in the comments.

(And yes, this might be the last time I post about popular hip-hop for a while.)